Yahoo Finance Billy Porter Is Not Here For Harry Styles Wearing A Dress On The Cover Of Vogue
Harry Styles made headlines and history when he wore a dress on the cover of US Vogue last year, making him the first solo male cover star in the magazine’s history.
The former One Direction singer was chosen to front Vogue’s first gender neutral shoot in which he wears a Gucci dress and skirt.
Harry told the magazine he thinks womenswear is “amazing” and that “clothes are there to experiment with”.
.@harry_styles is our December issue cover star!
Read how the star is making and playing by his own rules: https://t.co/tQPLi5OEtjpic.twitter.com/AxZgxE68Rx— Vogue Magazine (@voguemagazine) November 13, 2020
But Pose star Billy Porter, who wore a gown on the red carpet of the 2019 Oscars, thinks the magazine made a mistake by using “a straight white man in a dress” to grace the landmark cover.
“I’m not dragging Harry Styles, but he is the one you’re going to try and use to represent this new conversation? He doesn’t care, he’s just doing it because it’s the thing to do,” Billy told The Times.
“This is politics for me. This is my life. I had to fight my entire life to get to the place where I could wear a dress to the Oscars and not be gunned now. All he has to do is be white and straight.”
The award-winning star went on to suggest that he “personally changed the game” for men choosing to embrace skirts and dresses as part of their wardrobe.
As well as acting and singing, Billy is famed for his incredible red carpet looks. As well as his custom-made Christian Siriano Oscars tuxedo dress, he also wore a stunning white suit with train to the 2020 Emmys and dazzled in a rainbow coloured halter neck dress to mark the start of this year’s Pride Month.
While many of Harry’s fans and peers loved his Vogue cover, certain right-wing critics were less enthusiastic, including US pundit Candace Owens, who commented at the time: “Bring back manly men.”
Harry quickly responded to the criticism by posting a picture of himself in a suit with frills eating a banana with the caption: “Bring back manly man.”
This article originally appeared on HuffPost UK and has been updated.
